The ability to optimize crop production of a particular tract of farmland often depends in part on whether one or more agricultural vehicles can operate along precise layout guidelines for the tract. These layout guidelines often indicate routes within the tract that the agricultural vehicles are to follow to perform a particular operation, for example, plowing or harvesting. The ability to precisely operate agricultural vehicles on a particular tract of farmland depends on a wide range of factors concerning the topography of the tract, including with out limitation the slope and contours of the tract, soil conditions, water levels, and areas where agricultural vehicles cannot operate such as structures and wildlife areas located on the tract. In addition, the capabilities of the vehicle and operator greatly influence whether an agricultural vehicle is able to follow precise layout guidelines for a particular tract. For example, an operator can better follow layout guidelines in circumstances where he or she is familiar with the variations of the terrain in the particular tract in which the individual is operating.
To assist in implementing the precise layout for a particular tract, operators generally rely on two-dimensional depictions of the layout guidelines that display the tract from a top-down or plan view. These typical two-dimensional layouts, however, cannot accurately account for many of the factors that impact the ability of agricultural vehicles to operate along the desired layout guidelines such as the slope and contours of the tract. As a result of these limitations, operators of agricultural vehicles must often employ judgment and guesswork to determine the optimal vehicle path based on the current operating conditions. In addition, even modern agricultural vehicles with sophisticated steering and other control systems may require significant manual control by the operator to account for operating conditions not displayed in two-dimensional tract layouts. For example, an operator may know that he or she must slow down an agricultural vehicle when operating on a particular tract within a portion of descending terrain that would not be depicted on a two-dimensional, top-down depiction of the layout guidelines. Finally, because of the potential need for significant manual intervention from the operator during operation of an agricultural vehicle, it is often difficult to obtain predictability and uniformity of operations between multiple vehicles operating within the same tract.
Accordingly, there is a need for enhanced modeling of agricultural areas to create three-dimensional guidance paths for agricultural vehicles that more reliably account for the actual operating conditions of the vehicles.